Gingrich says Romney likely GOP nominee
WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich once led his rivals for the nomination in polls. Today, he’s millions in debt and describing Mitt Romney as “far and away the most likely” GOP nominee.
Running for president “turned out to be much harder than I thought it would be,” he said Sunday.
“I do think there’s a desire for a more idea-oriented Republican Party, but that doesn’t translate necessarily to being able to take on the Romney machine,” Gingrich told “Fox News Sunday” in a reflective interview.
After his Jan. 21 victory in the South Carolina primary, the former House Speaker said the Florida primary he lost in the following days turned into a “real brawl.” He said Romney did a good job building a substantial machine, adding he has no regrets.
“Unfortunately, our guys tried to match Romney,” Gingrich said of the Florida match-up. “It turned out, we didn’t have anything like his capacity to raise money.”
Peru appeals for help to free trapped miners
LIMA, Peru — Peru’s government appealed to mining companies on Sunday for heavy equipment and experts to help free nine miners trapped for four days in an informal copper mine.
Several dozen rescue workers have been using pickaxes and shovels to try to remove the 26 feet of collapsed earth and rock blocking the entrance of the mine, whose horizontal shaft is dug into a mountainside 175 miles southeast of Lima.
Firefighters have fashioned wooden beams to support the debris removal but their relatively crude efforts prompted Mining Minister Jorge Merino to appeal for help from mining companies.
Thursday’s collapse occurred following a blast set by the miners themselves in a mine last exploited commercially in the 1980s.
Through a hose, rescuers have been able to communicate with the trapped miners and provide them with liquid sustenance and the local police chief, Jose Saavedra, told The Associated Press that several tons of earth and rock have already been removed from the tunnel’s mouth.
Natural gas producers scale back as prices fall
NEW YORK — The U.S. natural gas market is bursting at the seams.
So much natural gas is being produced that soon there may be nowhere left to put the country’s swelling surplus. After years of explosive growth, natural gas producers are retrenching.
The underground salt caverns, depleted oil fields and aquifers that store natural gas are rapidly filling up after a balmy winter depressed demand for home heating.
The glut has benefited businesses and homeowners that use natural gas. But with natural gas prices at a 10-year low — and falling — companies that produce the fuel are becoming victims of their drilling successes. Their stock prices are falling in anticipation of declining profits and scaled-back growth plans.
Some of the nation’s biggest natural gas producers, including Chesapeake Energy, ConocoPhillips and Encana Corp., have announced plans to slow down.
Cruise ship to retrace voyage of the Titanic
LONDON — A cruise carrying relatives of some of the more than 1,500 people who died aboard the Titanic nearly 100 years ago set sail from England on Sunday to retrace the ship’s voyage, including a visit to the location where it sank.
The Titanic Memorial Cruise, carrying the same number of passengers — not including crew — as the Titanic did, cast off from Southampton, where the doomed vessel left on its maiden voyage. The 12-night cruise will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the White Star liner.
Waving passengers crowded the decks as the ship prepared to set sail, many dressed in period costumes as first-class passengers, crew members, steerage passenger and stewards.
By wire sources